BAKER — When the Baker School softball team next plays Chipley High School on April 1 the Gators will have good reason to be gunning for Tiger pitcher Sarah Gilbert.

Gilbert flirted with perfection Friday throwing a one-hitter as Chipley took a 4-0 District 3-1A win.

The loss dropped Baker to 8-8 overall and 4-5 in district play.

“We get them on the other side of things (spring break),” Baker Coach John Carlisle said. “We have to go to their place Tuesday (April 1).

“We’ll go over there to see them and see if we can’t pull up to .500 in the district.”

To say Gilbert dominated would be an understatement.

The senior struck out 12 Gator batters, induced six pop ups and only got to a three ball count twice.

The only blemish on Gilbert’s otherwise spotless performance was a two-out double in the sixth inning by Baker’s Hannah Sowell.

“We got one doughnut (zero off the scoreboard) out of there,” Carlisle said. “She (Gilbert) had a perfect game going up through the sixth inning and we broke that up. At least we can save a little bit of dignity on that.”

Baker pitcher Alexis Mitchem turned in a good performance that would win many games. But good wasn’t enough against the great effort by Gilbert.

The Tigers scored all of their runs in a fourth inning that had all the ingredients necessary for a recipe for disaster for Baker.

Mitchem walked the leadoff batter in the inning, Erin Wright and hit the second batter, Madison Kent. Gilbert singled to short right field to load the bases.

Jenna Stevenson misplayed a Mary Roslyn Taylor grounder allowing Wright to score. By the time the inning was over the Tigers had three hits and the four runs that were more than enough for Gilbert.

“It set up to be a pitchers’ duel if you take away the one inning,” Carlisle said. It’s not like they (the Tigers) hit her (Mitchem) hard. They dinked and dunked (for their hits).

“It just happened that the bad inning we had was early in the game and we got stymied at the plate and that’s what happened.”

Carlisle had plenty of praise for Gilbert.

“She’s a good pitcher,” he said. “She was able to hit her spots. If she wanted to hit outside, she hit it outside.

“If she wanted to hit it inside, she hit it inside. She’s a good pitcher and you’ve got to tip your cap to that. It was a well-pitched ball game.”

Carlisle said spring break came at a perfect time.

“The good news is we got a few people we’ve got to get back on the mend so we’ve got a break,” he said. “We are not playing over the break so we will get some folks back healthy again reenergized and recharged.”

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.